Sage Monarch

Before, Yang Qi hadn’t been strong enough to draw on the deepest reserves of primal-chaos vital energy, and all of the immortal formations. But now that he was powerful enough to kill eighth step Great Sages, things were different.

Leviathan Truesoaring hoped to convert the Plateau of the Leviathan into a full planet, and Yang Qi wanted to do the same thing here. By combining the Western Continent with the Rich-Lush Continent, he could turn the two of them into what was essentially an enormous magical treasure.

When that happened, then it wouldn’t matter how far away he was, he would be able to sense what was happening back home.

The Rich-Lush Continent was his foundation. His clan and his sworn siblings were there, and he definitely needed to make sure they were never in any danger.

“Planar Pearl!”

As the ancient spell formations were activated, and the hand of the primal-chaos elder-immortal appeared, all sorts of immortal energy and magical laws were stirred.

Yang Qi waved his hand, and the Planar Pearl appeared high above, accompanied by the rejoicing of the ancient noble spirits of the Great Sages.

“Hell of Mahānata!” Yang Qi said, unleashing a magic that pierced through numerous immortal planes like a wormhole. At the same time, he could sense his nascent divinity in the hell, and could use it to draw masses of devil energy, which he sent into his Hellfire Crucible. It was quickly converted into pure immortal energy, which he sent out into the lands, causing more volcanoes and earthquakes. However, as a result, deserts became forests, and the barren mountains filled with energy.

Even the most parched areas blossomed with flowers.

“Spirit veins!”

The powers of the Planar Pearl and the Hell of Mahānata sank deep into the lands, causing massive streams of immortal energy to stretch out beneath the surface of the ground.

At first they were like writhing dragons, but soon they settled, and began to transform into liquid. It was spirit energy, which the people of the lands would need for their cultivation.

Next, he drew on his most powerful technique, the Hand of the One God, to send sagelight streaming out, speeding up the process.

The purified devil energy from the Hell of Mahānata created the most powerful of the veins of energy, which could stretch for tens of thousands of kilometers.

Everyone could sense the enormous veins then crystallizing, and turning into ore that emanated an imperial aura.

Ghost Emperor Yama was so shocked that he nearly fainted. “My god! Those spirit veins, they're… they’re becoming imperial-grade spirit stones! Only Demi-Immortals should be able to do that.”

Yang Qi had already reached the point of being able to take spirit energy and convert it into spirit stones. And imperial-grade spirit stones were perfect for Great Sages to practice their cultivation.

It was all thanks to the Hell of Mahānata, which was actually a higher-level world than most immortal planes. The devil energy from there was like high-level immortal energy, and after being purified, could create amazing spirit stones.

Of course, it wasn’t every single stream of energy that turned into imperial-grade spirit stones. There were others which were low-, mid-, high-, supreme-, and royal-grade.

Thanks to everything Yang Qi was doing, the Rich-Lush Continent’s subterranean areas were now filled with veins of ore, and the spirit energy in the place was thrumming.

Life force was abundant everywhere, which was a major benefit to all of the common people. Thanks to the spirit energy everywhere, more impressive cultivators would soon rise up.

But Yang Qi wasn’t done. Focusing completely on the primal-chaos elder-immortal's hand, he forced it to shrink down to cover Sage Monarch City. Soon, immortal motes appeared, which emanated primal-chaos vital energy that entered into his father and sworn siblings.

Then he summoned the Grand Emperor’s Pagoda for them to meditate in.

Next, he sent the power of the Blood of the One God into the pagoda to help them. Almost immediately, the lightning of tribulation appeared inside as people inside achieved cultivation breakthroughs.

However, the energy of the Blood of the One God prevented the tribulations from harming them, and in fact, it served to strengthen them.

As far as Yang Qi was concerned, tribulations like the ones appearing now were child’s play.

He had faced the Eternal Godwind, Jambudvīpa Deluge, Night Queen Flame, and Amber Avalanche, all without being hurt.

Considering that those tribulations were widely believed to be for the Demi-Immortal level, it begged the question of what he might face when he became a Demi-Immortal. It was impossible to even imagine.

“Milord, this is completely heaven-defying!” Ghost Emperor Yama said, shivering. “Are you sure you won’t face heavenly retribution for this?”

“Heavenly retribution? I call upon the name of the Lord to alter fate and strive toward deathlessness. You think I’m going to be hit with heavenly retribution? I preside over the dao of heaven, the universe, space, time, history, the future, and destiny…. The Lord doesn’t face retribution for defying heaven.”

He looked out over the lands, and as the sagelight spread out in all directions, and the immortal formations did their work, more and more immortal energy was imbued into the soil. The soil of the Rich-Lush Continent was now superior to even that of the Quake-Dawn Continent, and emanated a fragrant aroma because of the overabundance of spirit energy.

Of course, the continent as a whole was not superior. After all, the Quake-Dawn Continent was a planet, and was thousands of times larger than the Rich-Lush Continent.

But it would continue to improve and grow in the years to come.

“I’ll leave the Grand Emperor's Pagoda here as a bastion of defense, as well as the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker. Neither of them are very useful to me anymore.” Waving his hand, he sent a streak of golden light into the ground, which became an enormous golden mountain. It was none other than the true form of the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker, which would now stand watch over Sage Monarch City.

Now that Ghost Emperor Yama was an eighth step Great Sage, and completely under Yang Qi’s control, he would be able to protect the Rich-Lush Continent even against ninth step enemies.

Unless a Demi-Immortal came along, the continent would be safe.

** 

A few more months passed, during which time Yang Qi tirelessly continued to improve the Rich-Lush Continent. Eventually, an enormous planetary core began to take shape in the center of the continent. It was a crystal of power, filled with innumerable spell formations, and connected to many immortal planes. In its depths was the Planar Pearl.

It had primal-chaos vital energy, and immortal formations, and was also connected to the Grand Emperor's Pagoda and the Heaven-Dominating Golden Swordbreaker.

Crack!

Sage Monarch City connected to the planetary core, becoming the ultimate overlord of all the surrounding lands.

The planetary core was complete, which meant that the Rich-Lush Continent was now a fledgling planet. In the years to come, even if Yang Qi didn’t actively shape it further, the planetary core would continue to gather power, and the continent would eventually become a planet. And since Yang Zhan and everyone else was in Sage Monarch City working on their cultivation, and Sage Monarch City was connected directly to the planetary core, they received untold blessings.

It wouldn't be long before some of them became Great Sages.

WHIZZZ!

In fact, in almost the same moment that Yang Qi formed the planetary core, a beam of sagelight shot into the air as someone experienced a breakthrough.

“Hmm?” Yang Qi looked over and saw that Nie Chaoguang was experiencing a major transformation as he became a Great Sage.

“Come here, Nie Chaoguang,” Yang Qi said. Waving his hand, he dispelled the tribulations that had been about to descend, and brought Nie Chaoguang over to him.

Nie Chaoguang looked at him, eyes flickering with fear as he had no idea what Yang Qi planned to do to him.

“Henceforth, you’re not surnamed Nie,” Yang Qi said. “Your new surname is Yang, and you’re a member of the Yang Clan. How does that sound to you?”

“Many thanks, Milord!” He was well aware that if Yang Qi wanted to, he could wipe him out of existence with a thought. “From now on, my surname is Yang. I'm Yang Chaoguang, member of the Yang Clan. I will never slack in my duty to watch over the Rich-Lush Continent and the people of the Yang Clan.”

“Excellent. A wise man submits to the circumstances. Eventually, we’ll go to the Quake-Dawn Continent, and I’ll announce the matter to your Spirit Origin Association. The Quake-Dawn Continent is going to be absorbed into the Rich-Lush Continent anyway. It's just the beginning of the mighty kingdom I'm forming.”